USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 51
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With such antecedents and traditions, it was natural that Massachusetts and Boston should be the home and centre of the last and successful move- ment for abolishing slavery throughout the whole Union.
William Lloyd Garrison, the leader of the movement, whose name will stand forever among those which the world will not willingly let die, was not a Boston boy indeed, though a son of Massachusetts. He was born in Newburyport,4 Dec. 10, 1805, his father being a sea-captain, and his mother a member of the Baptists, and a deeply religious woman. From her he probably inherited his profoundly religious tendency and his strength of moral conviction. After trying one or two other trades he became a printer ; and subsequently editor, in succession, of two or three newspapers, the last being a political journal in Bennington, Vermont. From this place he was taken by Benjamin Lundy to Baltimore, in 1829, to assist in editing his Antislavery paper, the Genius of Universal Emancipation. His style of writ- ing roused great opposition ; and soon an article in which he denounced a Mr. Todd, a fellow-townsman, for taking in his vessel a cargo of eighty slaves from Baltimore to New Orleans, caused him to be prosecuted for libel, and sent to jail from inability to pay the fine of fifty dollars. This caused much excitement through the country. Joseph T. Buckingham, of the Boston Courier, a man who had "somewhat in him gritty,"5 printed two sonnets written by Garrison in prison. John G. Whittier, then, or a little later, edit- ing a Whig paper in Hartford, wrote to Henry Clay, telling him the case, and asking him to pay the fine. Clay inclined to do so, but requested further information from a gentleman in Baltimore. Meantime the fine was paid by Arthur Tappan, a leading New York merchant. Garrison then
1 Robert Dickson Smith's Oration, July 5, 1880.
2 [See the note on this point in J. P. Quincy's chapter on "Social Life in Boston," in Vol. IV. p. 6 .- ED.]
8 Theodore Lyman's Report, as above.
4 [See a view of his birthplace in Harper's Magazine, 1875, ii. 166 .- ED.]
5 " Thought I, my neighbor Buckingham Hath somewhat in him gritty, . Some Pilgrim stuff that hates all sham, And he will print my ditty." - LOWELL
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
proposed establishing an Antislavery paper in Washington; but consider- ing that the North needed conversion as much as the South, and ought to be made the fulcrum for his lever, he came to Boston, and, Jan. 1, 1831, published the first number of the Liberator.1
Mr. Oliver Johnson, one of the earliest associates of Mr. Garrison, has given us a picture of the humble room and poor surroundings, -"the ob- scure hole," as it was called by the mayor of the city, - where
" In a small chamber, friendless and unseen, Toiled o'er his types one poor, unlearned young man ; The place was dark, unfurnitured, and mean, Yet there the freedom of a race began."
" Everything around it," says Mr. Johnson, "had an aspect of slovenly decay. The dingy walls; the small windows, bespattered with printer's ink; the press standing in one corner, the composing stands opposite ; the long editorial and mailing table, covered with newspapers; the bed of the editor and publisher on the floor, - all these made a picture never to be forgotten."
Garrison was singularly adapted to the work for which Providence se- lected him. He had a manifest calling, and he gave such diligence as to make it sure. Conscience, reason, and will were the leading elements of his character. His conscience caused him in cach instance to ask, in regard to every action, custom, or institution, " Is it right or wrong?" His under- standing was in the highest degree logical, and to his mind every proposi- tion was either true or false. He was not one of those who perceive much to be said on both sides, and who sometimes confuse the clearness of their judgment by too much balancing in their thought. His fault was never that of indecision; he saw none of the finc shades which make a mild transition from one opinion to its opposite; and having decided what ought to be believed and done, nothing could afterward shake the persis- tency of his purpose. As Dr. Wayland said of John Howard : "Having formed his determination, he went forward to its accomplishment with an energy which the nature of the human mind prevented from being more, and the character of the individual forbade to be less." In these traits of Garrison we see reproduced the main elements of New England Puritanism, - its high moral tone; its intensity of conviction ; its colorless, unpictur- esque, and somewhat narrow methods of thought; its readiness to make
1 These facts, and others here given, are taken from Oliver Johnson's book, Garrison and his Times. Oliver Johnson and Samuel E Sewall are almost the only survivors of those who were with Garrison from the very first. [Sets of the Liberator, so important to the study of the Anti- slavery movement, have fortunately been pre- served in various places. Mr. F. J. Garrison reports twelve sets nearly complete: Boston Public Library, Boston Athenæum, Harvard
College Library, Cornell University Library, Rhode Island Historical Society at Providence, American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Library of Congress, Long Island Historical Society at Brooklyn, Portland Public Library, Wendell Phillips, Esq., Miss Caroline Wes- ton, of Weymouth, Mass., and the family of Mr. Garrison. See further on the Liber- ator, in Mr. Cummings's chapter in this vol- ume. - ED.]
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THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT IN BOSTON.
any sacrifice to its convictions; and that energy of will which has given it such commanding power on both continents.
-
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.1
The one question which Mr. Garrison asked concerning slavery was, " Is it right, or is it wrong?" This question was easily answered; and the
1 [This likeness follows a daguerreolype by Chase, taken about 1853, and selected by the kindred of Mr. Garrison for the engraver's pur- pose. The Editor is indebted 10 Mr. Wendell P. Garrison for the following statement : -
"The number of portraits nf Mr. Garrison, in every va- riety of medium, is very great. For the print-collector only four need be mentioned, namely : 1) A line-engraving on
steel hy S. S. Jocelyn, after the full-size oil-painting from life, by N. Jocelyn, made in New Haven in April, 1833. The engraving was copyrighted just a year later. The like- ness would not now be recognized readily, and was at the time considered a total failure. (2) A mezzotint, by John Sartain, after the cabinet oil painting from life, by M. C. Torrey, made about 1836. Though faulty in its propor- tions this likeness approves itself by its resemblance to Mr. Garrison's later aspect. The originals of both these portraits, which are front views, are now in ibe possession
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
natural inference was-" Being wrong, it ought to be immediately relin- quished." Hence the fundamental doctrine of the Abolitionists, - the duty of immediate cmancipation. To many this seemed a monstrous proposi- tion. "What," they said; " set free at once more than two million slaves, - ignorant, helpless, vicious? This would be a curse to the slave and his master alike. These two millions do not own a dollar of property; they have nothing they can call their own; not an acre of land; no tools; no habits of foresight or self-control. You say slavery is a bad thing; bad in all its influence on slaves and master. If so, it has unfitted the slaves for freedom ; it has depraved their characters; it has kept them children. To emancipate them at once would be like turning all the little children out into the streets to support themselves. No! Slaves ought not all to be immediately emancipated. They ought to be gradually prepared for free- dom by some kind of education."
Something like this was the universal answer to Garrison's demand; but it did not disturb him. He fell back on his postulate: "Slavery is wrong. Every wrong act should be immediately abandoncd. Therefore slavery ought at once to cease. Do right, and leave the results to God."
When pressed more closely in regard to the consequences of his proposed measure, he would explain his meaning thus: " By immediate emancipa- . tion I do not mean that the slavcholder should turn his slaves out of doors. I mean that he should at once recognize that they are no longer to be held as slaves, but to be regarded as free people, of whom he is the temporary guardian. I mean that he should allow those to leave him who desire it, and pay wages to those who remain." And this was, in fact, very nearly the actual solution of the situation when immediate emancipation came as the result of the Civil War.
The often quoted words in Garrison's opening address to the public in the first number of the Liberator indicated its whole course. He said : -
"I am aware that many object to the severity of my language ; but is there not cause for severity ? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No ! no ! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm ; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher ; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen, - but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest : I will not equivocate ; I will not retreat a single inch, - AND I WILL BE HEARD."
of Edward M. Davis, Esq., of Philadelphia. (3) A litho- graph, by Louis Grozelier, after the daguerreotype above mentioned, with the advantage of personal sittings, pub- lished in Boston by William C. Nell in 1854. This, though a little hard in drawing, is perhaps the most characteristic and vigorous of all the multiplied likenesses. The some- what stern expression comports well with the motto be- neath, - '1 am in earnest,' etc. (4) A line-and-stipple engraving, by F. T. Stuart, Boston, after a photograph by Warren, serving as frontispiece to Johnson's Garrison and his Times (1880). The view here is three-quarters to the right. The copy is very true to the original, which is well
esteemed among the photographic likenesses of Mr. Gar- rison's latest years. Neither the bust by Clevenger nor that by Jackson was successful ; but Miss Anne Whitney's (1878) is to be praised without reserve. In John Rogers's statuette group, 'The Fugitive's Story,' Mr. Garrison's head is carefully and not badly modelled, but the figure is stiffly posed."
The present likeness represents Mr. Garrison al the age of about forty-eight. His later years were passed in a house on Highland Street, in Roxbury .- ED.]
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THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT IN BOSTON.
No one can say that Mr. Garrison did not fulfil to the letter this pro- gramme. He did not equivocate; he did not retreat; and he was heard ! This trumpet uttered no uncertain sound; this soldier never fought as one who beat the air; this voice was heard and listened to year after year by increasing numbers. And now, looking back on the long conflict and its results, it is difficult to see how any other method could have been success- ful. Margaret Fuller explained in one fitting sentence the reason of the extreme sharpness of speech of the Abolitionists : " The nation was deaf in regard to the evils of slavery ; and those who have to speak to deaf people naturally acquire the habit of saying everything on a very high key." 'The people would hardly have gone out into that wilderness of solitary convic- tions where Garrison and his few friends were, " to see a reed shaken by the wind " or "a man clothed in soft raiment; " but they did go out to hear Garrison. Nine years after the first issue of the Liberator there were nearly two thousand Antislavery societies, with a membership of about two hun- dred thousand persons.1
The first meeting for the purpose of forming an Antislavery Society on these principles was held in the office of Samuel E. Sewall, then a rising young lawyer of Boston, Nov. 13, 1831. Another followed, December 16. The names of those present, besides Mr. Garrison and Mr. Sewall, were Ellis Gray Loring and David Lee Child, Boston lawyers; Isaac Knapp, publisher of the Liberator ; Samuel J. May, Unitarian minister, settled in Brooklyn, Connecticut, who was at the November meeting; Oliver Johnson, William J. Snelling, Alonzo Lewis, Abner Phelps, Abijalı Blanchard, and Gamaliel Bradford. A constitution was drafted by Ellis Gray Loring and Oliver Johnson. The meeting for adopting this constitution was held, Jan. 6, 1832, in a school-room under the African Church on Belknap Street. It was a dismal night; a fierce snow-storm was raging outside, and within the room were a very few persons, scarcely known, with neither wealth nor influence ; but then and there they united to overthrow the vast system of American slavery, - and in this effort they succeeded. Before that generation had passed away the work was done, and the society was disbanded as being no longer necessary. Then, as often in the course of history, it happened that God " chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise; and weak things to confound the mighty; and things which were despised, and things which were not, to bring to nought things that were."
Before Mr. Garrison had been engaged in this work many years he was surrounded by a body of devoted friends and fellow-laborers, many of them belonging to this city by birth or residence. In Boston, and by the help of Boston men, he found the Toû oTo, the fulcrum for his lever, by which to move the world. Among these Bostonians we may mention the names of Samuel E. Sewall, Ellis Gray Loring and his wife Louisa Loring, Mrs. Maria W. Chapman and her sisters the Misses Weston, Samuel J. May, David Lee Child and his wife Lydia Maria Child, Henry I. Bowditch, William I. Bow-
1 Wilson's Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, i. 187.
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ditch, George Bradburn, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Follen, John Pier- pont, Francis Jackson, Charles F. Hovey, Eliza Lec Follen, Susan Cabot, Charles K. Whipple, Lucy Stone, and many others. Younger than most of these, but among the leaders, were Wendell Phillips and Edmund Quincy. Conspicuous for their Antislavery action, though not so closely affiliated with the Antislavery Society, were William Ellery Channing, Theodore Parker, Charles Sumner, Samuel G. Howe, Horace Mann, Jolın A. Andrew, and John G. Palfrey.
Prominent among these associates of Garrison, both by his unsurpassed ability as an orator, his ready dialectics, and his unswerving devotion to the Antislavery cause, was Wendell Phillips. Born in Boston in 1811, son of the first mayor of the city, he graduated at Harvard in the class of 1831, and in the law-class of 1834. A witness of the mobbing of Garrison in 1835, he joined the Antislavery Society in 1836, and first appeared as an Anti- slavery speaker in the meeting occasioned by the murder of Lovejoy in 1837. From that time forward, until the final abolition of slavery, his time, thought, and means were devoted to this subject. As a public speaker he has been excelled by none, in our day, in the power of holding a miscellane- ous audience, even when most hostile to himself and his ideas. Calm and self- possessed, speaking with deliberation, - without that fiery flow of thoughts and words which many consider as alone deserving the name of eloquence, - he charms his audience by clear, strong statement, happy illustration, un- expected surprises, unremitting appeals to human hopes and fears, loves and hates, and by contempt for baseness and admiration for truth and manly courage.
Another leader in the Garrisonian body was Edmund Quincy. Belonging to a family 2 in which patriotism, manly independence, and fearless speech have been transmitted from generation to generation, it was a good day for Antislavery in Boston when he gave to it his share of such an inheritance. With less fluency on the platform than Phillips, his clear, good sense, sharp logic, self-possession, and imperturbable determination made him an interesting speaker and formidable antagonist. He added to these qualities one very rare among these stern reformers, - a keen and brilliant wit. Satire and sarcasm they possessed abundantly ; but only Edmund Quincy in Boston, and John P. Hale in the United States Senate were able to make fun of their antagonists while they demolished their arguments, and to speak the sober truth merrily. During many years a correspondent of the New York Antislavery Standard and the New York Tribune, the letters of Edmund Quincy sparkled with wit ; and a very entertaining and instructive history of the times might be made by a judicious selection from those letters.
Several members of the Boston Bar did not hesitate early to identify them- selves with the obnoxious Garrisonian Abolitionists, and prominent among
1 [Ile was the son of the elder Mayor Quincy. - ED.]
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THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT IN BOSTON.
them to the last were Ellis Gray Loring, Samuel E. Sewall, and David Lee Child. Mr. Loring was wise, calm, strong, and gentle ; a man more fond of literature and home than of the stormy Antislavery arena; but he was onc always to be relied on to devote his hand, thought, heart, and nicans to the cause he accounted sacred. Mr. Sewall is still living among us in an hon- ored age, and his modesty forbids that we should say more of him than this, -that in the long line of worthies who have honored the name of Sewall in Massachusetts, none will be found more deserving of her grateful remem- brance than he.
Among the clergymen who very early took part with the Garrisonians were Amos A. Phelps, Samuel J. May, Samuel May, Jr., and Charles Follen. Less intimately connected with them, but warmly sympathizing with their purpose, were John Pierpont, Theodore Parker, Caleb Stetson, Henry Ware, Jr., Charles Lowell, John G. Palfrey, and others not so closely identified with Boston. Amos A. Phelps was the pastor of the Pine-Street Church, and his conversion to Antislavery was due to one of his parishioners, - Oliver Johnson. Besides other services, he helped the movement by con- tributing the definition of slavery which was accepted by all the Abolition- ists as the basis of their action : "Slavery is the holding of a human being as property." Samuel J. May and Samuel May, Jr., nearly related to each other, and belonging to one of the most highly respected families in Boston, were always intimate friends of Garrison, and co-workers with him. Charles Follen, a native of Germany, and an exile for his liberal principles, also adopted this cause, -unpopular among most of his friends, but congenial to his convictions and his heart. John Pierpont-orator, poet, reformer, cham- pion of human rights, a terror to evil-doers - did not hesitate in putting himself on the same side. John G. Palfrey, a representative from Boston in Congress, having forfeited that position by his specches and votes against slavery and its extension, illustrated his sincerity by an act which won for him the high esteem of well-thinking men. Becoming heir to a part of the estate of his father, a resident in New Orleans, his brother offered to take the slaves as his own share, leaving other property for his Boston brother. This Dr. Palfrey declined, because it would be, in his judgment, equivalent to selling the slaves. He therefore took his portion of the slaves and emancipated them, brought them to Boston and found homes and occu- pation for them here.
A most important accession in Boston to the Antislavery movement was when William Ellery Channing- then in the height of his influence and fame -- identified himself with it by his work on Slavery ( 1835) ; his letter to James G. Birney on "The Abolitionists " (1836) ; his appearance by the side of the Abolitionists in the State House in the same year; his demand in 1837 for the use of Faneuil Hall for a meeting to denounce the killing of Lovejoy in Alton ; his speech at that meeting ; and numerous publications in relation to slavery, from that time until the end of his life. But his world- wide reputation, his services to religion, literature, and good morals did not VOL. 111. - 48.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
save him from bitter criticism and opposition from the Boston press, and even from members of his own congregation. Though moderate in his statements, doing full justice to the slaveholder, and differing from the Garrisonian Abolitionists in many of their methods, it was enough that he was an earnest opposer of slavery and defender of the Abolitionists, to draw down on him the wrath of many of the leading citizens of Boston. In his book on Slavery he had laid down the principles that " man cannot be justly held and used as property ; " that " he has sacred rights, the gift of God, and inseparable from human nature, of which slavery is the infraction." In his letter to Birney in 1836 he said of the Abolitionists : "When I regard their firm, fearless assertion of the rights of free discussion, of speech, and the press, I look on them with unmixed respect. . .. I do not hesitate to say that they have rendered to freedom a more essential service than any body of men among us. From my heart I thank them. I am myself their debtor. I am not sure that I should this moment write in safety had they shrunk from the conflict, shut their lips, imposed silence on their presses. A body of men and women more blameless than the Abolitionists cannot be found among us." Saying such words as these was enough in those days to change many of Dr. Channing's admirers into revilers and op- ponents. Dr. Channing had been much impressed with the wrong and evil of slavery during a visit to the West Indies in 1830, caused by ill health. On his return to Boston in 1831 he addressed his society, and spoke espe- cially of what he had seen of slavery, saying such words as these: "I think no power can do justice to the evils of slavery. They are chiefly moral; they act on the mind, and through the mind bring intense suffering to the body. As far as the human soul can be destroyed, slavery is the destroyer. The slave is regarded as property, having no rights. I feel that we have little perception of the infinite evil of slavery, and I desire earnestly that a new sentiment should be called forth."
Lydia Maria Child, an ardent Abolitionist and able writer, whose Appeal in favor of that Class of Americans called Africans had just been published (1833), gives an account of her interviews with Dr. Channing at this period, in which she says : -
" At every interview I could see that he grew bolder and stronger on the subject, while I felt that I grew wiser and more just. At first I thought him timid and even slightly timeserving, but I soon discovered that I formed this estimate from ignorance of his character. I learned that it was justice to all, not popularity for himself, which made him so cautious. He constantly grew upon my respect, until I came to regard him as the wisest as well as the gentlest apostle of humanity."
A little later than this, in the autumn of 1834, Samuel J. May describes an interview with Dr. Channing, which probably hastened the publication of his work on Slavery, which he began at Santa Cruz, but only printed in 1835. Mr. May had identified himself with Garrison from the begin- ning. He says that he always cherished such a reverence for Dr. Chan-
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ning that he was inclined to defer to his opinions, and accept them in si- lence. On this occasion Dr. Channing, while expressing his agreement with the Abolitionists in all their essential doctrines, complained of their harsh denunciations, their violent language, and frequent injustice to their opponents; to which Mr. May at last replied : " If this is so, Sir, it is your fault. You have held your peace, and the stones have cried out. If we, who are obscure men, silly women, babes in knowledge, commit these er- rors, why do not such men as yourself speak, and show us the right way?" Having thus spoken, " I bethought myself," says Mr. May, " to whom 1 was administering this rebuke, - the best and greatest of our great and good men, who had ever treated me as a father. I was overwhelmed with a sense of my temerity. I waited, in painful silence, his reply. At last, in a subdued voice and the kindest tones, he said : 'Brother May, I acknowl- edge the justice of your reproof. I have been silent too long.'"
Samuel J. May, who gives us this anecdote, was himself a very re- markable man. In him was seen not only the rare union but the perfect harmony of strength and sweetness, leonine courage and kindly sympathy. He would be burned at the stake for his convictions, but would not un- necessarily hurt a fly. His presence was persuasion; and there were few opponents whose prejudices were not softened by his frank good-will. Anecdotes are related of Southern slave-holders who, meeting him with fury on account of his abolition sentiments, ended by becoming his warm friends.
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